The Necessity of Creating Sacred Margin

We all need space for quiet moments to hear God and let Him speak to us. If you ask most believers if they have carved out sacred space in their lives, most will answer that they do in the form of church attendance or devotional time. But more often than not, those spaces are filled with noise: social time at church or time spent talking to God but not much for listening. I know I’m guilty.

While church attendance is good and called for and devotion time is a necessity, we should also seek sacred margin in our lives. Think of the margins of your Bible. Most people’s Bibles are filled with notes and observations gleaned from quiet moments where the Holy Spirit has revealed something or spoken something to our hearts from the Scripture. That’s the same idea behind making room and time for sacred margin. It’s dedicating space for God to move in our lives.

We often look for margin in our lives with regard to time. We make time to get to an appointment early so we have time to park and make our way into the appointment. Sacred margin is making time for God within the margins we regularly create: time to pray before an appointment, space to ponder on His Word. We ought to make time for God to speak to us as we are waiting in line instead of filing it up with scrolling through social media. Perhaps God wants us to chat with someone or pray for someone in the sacred margins we set aside.

Ezekiel 45:1 says, When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the LORD a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide; the entire area will be holy.

God called for His people to carve out a measured space for sacred space. How much more should we as the living temples of the Lord?